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Almost we all havereturned a package For one reason or another, if the product inside did not meet our expectations or that we simply sent the bad element. According to NPR, there wasmore than $ 500 billion The value of the packages returned by American buyers last year only. When there is so much money at stake, thieves are necessarily hidden. Now the police alert the Americans from a package scam that strikes people unexpectedly and made serious damage. Read the rest to know why those in charge say that you should think twice before returning a package.

Read this then:If you find this on the ground, do not pick it up, the police said in a new warning.

Schools seek to target people as they can, and mail is often the simplest option.

In June, a sheriff of the parish of Avoyelles, Louisiana, alerted the residents to aFraudulent warranty coverage warning be sent. According to the manager, crooks were trying to convince the victims that they were contacted by the sheriff's office and had to pay in order to prevent coverage.

And earlier this month, Washington State policePosted on Facebook About a scam -based depliant sent to residents by post, exhorting them to send a check for a "Association for supporting the police". According to the authorities, the victims think that they donate their local police, but no money really goes to the department.

Now the police have a new warning about something that could be above in your mail.

On July 25, the sheriff's office of the parish of Sabine in many, Louisiana, published on their official Facebook page, warning those of the region of a scam that had already tried to target one of their own. The Departmentshare an opinion From the Consumer Advocate Clark Howard website, alerting people to a complex scam which "implies that the orderly electronics are fraudulently returned to criminals rather than a legitimate retail address". According to Clark Howard, the crooks used both UPS and Fedex for this diagram.AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Please be alert," wrote the Sheriff's Office on Facebook, noting that the scam also applies to the plans of the American postal service (USPS). "A local resident of the parish of Sabine was almost a victim."

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This several layer scam begins with thieves who command products with stolen credit card information and sending them to the card holder's home, according to Clark Howard. For instance,The Plain Marchand In Cleveland, Ohio, reported that a man in the region hadReceived a laptop of $ 600 From Best Buy via UPS which had been fraudulently purchased using his wife's credit card number.

A few days later, Fedex showed up at the couple's home with a shipping label and instructions to recover the computer to return to Best Buy, despite the return of the man to a local Best Buy store the day before. AccordingThe Plain Marchand, The address of the return shipping label was not a better purchase location, but rather for a residential street address - which is part of the scammer's ploy.

"Thus, the M.O. of the criminals is as follows: they command costly electronics on a stolen credit card and have purchases sent to the home of the legitimate credit card holder. The criminals expect the holder of The card is concerned about the disputed with the purchase with their bank, "explains Clark Howard. "It is then that the crooks hit a second time by sending a return label and a package in which the article is supposed to be returned to the retailer."

Shannon Mortland, a spokesperson for PNC Bank, saidThe Plain MarchandThat fraud investigators "know this program" and that the address of the street is used is generally only part of the global con. "The crooks recruit" reminders "whose only function is to receive packages and reintegrate them into another destination," said Mortland. "They are often recruited under the guise of" home work "opportunities (another area of ​​fraud scams). "

If the package is returned to an address used by the crooks, it does not relate to the retailer. Consequently, "the retailer can hold you financially responsible for the cost of the stolen goods," warns Clark Howard.

"The crooks are counting on the card holder who does not pay attention to the return shipping address," said Mortland The Plain Marchand . "Often, the card holder is so concerned about the inversion of the transaction that they do not realize that they do not actually refer the goods directly to the merchant."

This is why you must always be careful where you send a package, even if you return something that you have not ordered in the first place. "Never return something that you did not order without first checking that it is a legitimate address to which you return the expedition," reiterates Clark Howard.